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A SKETCH OF THE LIFE 



THOMAS DONALDSON, 



GEO. WM. BROWN. 



Vix duo tresve mihi de tot supcrestis a 



BALTIMORE ; 

CUSHINGS & BAILEY, 
1881. 



i*iP 






lrv\j^% ,'u)'Ui. ^L.iX'\.^cuL. 



JUL 13 131S 




HE reputation of an eminent lawyer and advocate 
does not long survive. There are few excep- 
tions to this rule. While he lives he is a 
conspicuous figure in the community. His 
connection with important cases gives him prominence, and 
his knowledge, skill and eloquence are called into exercise on 
public occasions when the services of the ablest men are 
required ; but when he dies he leaves behind no lasting 
memorial. 

Even the best speeches of renowned orators rarely become 
a part of enduring literature. They are intended for hearers, 
not readers. A few brilliant passages are preserved in the 
declamations of schoolboys, a few striking phrases become 
part of the common language, while the speeches themselves 
are soon forgotten. 

But the lawyer's aim is not to be an orator. He would 
certainly fail in his profession if it were. His arguments 
are intended to convince the judgment of courts and to 
gain the verdicts of juries. The simpler and plainer they 
are the better. In a case in which it is appropriate, elo- 
quence is sometimes very effective, but it seldom outlives 
the trial, or reaches beyond the courthouse. 



And the rest of the lawyer's work is equally evanescent. 
His carefully written opinions lose their value when the 
controversy is ended. His skillfully drawn documents 
slumber in pigeon-holes. His prudent advice is remembered 
only by those who profited by it. When he leaves the forum, 
another steps forward to take his place, and his name and 
fame soon become a dim tradition in the places which knew 
him so well and delighted to honor him. 

This sketch of the life of Thomas Donaldson was prepared 
at the request of some of his friends, with no expectation of 
preventing his reputation from sharing the common fate of 
the profession, but as a memorial which may be acceptable to 
his family and friends, and to others, not a few in this 
community, who still love and cherish his memory. 

But little is known of his ancestors except that they came 
from Ireland. The Dorseys, his maternal ancestors, settled 
in Maryland and became owners of extensive tracts of land 
purchased from the Proprietary government. The Johnstons, 
his ancestors on the father's side, were a family of lawyers. 
It is only known of Samuel Johnston, the father of his 
great-grandfather, that he was a lawyer in Ireland. His 
great-grandfather, who was also named Samuel Johnston, 
was born in Ireland in 1727, and with his wife came 
to America in 1753 as agent of the Penn family, and 
settled in Philadelphia, where all his children were born, 
and where he practiced law. Subsequently, and before 
the American Revolution began, he removed to York, 
Pa., and became prothonotary and clerk of the peace 
of the county of that name, offices which he held until 1783. 
He then removed to Baltimore, and in August 1784 applied to 
the Court of Baltimore County to be admitted as an attorney 



of that court. This application was strenuously opposed by 
Luther Martin, Attorney-general of the State, as appears 
by the report of the case of the State of Maryland against 
Samuel Johnston, 2 Harris and McHenry's Reports, p. i6i, 
on the ground that Mr. Johnston " did not take the oaths of 
allegiance to the State of Pennsylvania, in consequence 
whereof the said offices were disposed of to another, and he 
gave up his practice as a lawyer and retired in the said year, 
being then upwards of fifty-two years of age, to this State, 
where he remained peaceable and inactive without taking the 
oaths to this State, with his relations, until peace was estab- 
lished, which the said Johnston acknowledged to be true, and 
alleged that during the dispute his conscience would not 
permit him to take the oaths of allegiance to the new 
government, not thinking himself absolved from his oath of 
allegiance to the king of Great Britain until independence was 
acknowledged, although he at the same time alleged that he 
sincerely wished well to the liberties of America, and that 
two of his sons were colonels of militia in the American 
service, one of them in the flying camp, and two of his sons 
were privates, one in the militia and the other in the regular 
service, one of whom was taken prisoner at Fort Washington, 
and that now the independence of America was established 
and the matter entirely over, he was at this time perfectly 
attached to the present government of Maryland as now 
established." 

But neither the integrity and ability of" the said Johnston," 
which were admitted, nor the vicarious services of his sons 
in the American cause, nor his sincere good wishes for the 
liberties of the country, nor his perfect attachment to the 
new government, sufficed to appease the implacable Attor- 



ney-general. In his opinion, the '* political character and 
conduct" of Mr. Johnston were such as to prevent his 
ever practising law in the State of Maryland. 

After this it is pleasant to read in the same report the 
following entry, made in the precise and formal language in 
which the law delights : "And the Court clearly seeing and 
understanding the motion of the said Samuel Johnston and 
the objection so as aforesaid stated against him, do admit the 
said Samuel Johnston as an attorney of Baltimore County 
Court, upon his taking the oaths by the law prescribed, and 
thereupon the said Samuel Johnston took and subscribed the 
several oaths by the law directed." 

But the Attorney-general was not satisfied, and imme- 
diately took an appeal to the General Court which sat at 
Annapolis. After two years the following entry appears on 
the record of the Court, page 165 : "At October term 1784, 
the appeal was dismissed ; it being determined not to be a 
case in which an appeal would lie." 

This second defeat would have discouraged most men, 
but it did not discourage Luther Martin. At November 
term 1784 he applied for and obtained a writ of certiorari, 
by means of which the suit was again carried up to the 
General Court. On this occasion Mr. Johnston argued his 
own case, and his argument, which is very clear and concise, is 
printed at length in the report of the case. The course of 
the Attorney-general strongly savored of persecution, and 
doubtless aroused Mr. Johnston's indignation; but he kept 
it within bounds, and only says in the close of his argument : 
" I hope the Court will, in this case, discourage such an 
unwarranted proceeding, by quashing the certiorari issued, 
and put an end to an affair which seems to have taken its rise 



from a busy intermeddling spirit, and carried on, not with a 
regard to the public good, nor called thereto by the duty of 
public office." No opinion was given by the Court, but the 
entry appears on the record that the case was " struck off," 
and thus, after a contest lasting nearly two years, Mr. 
Johnston was permitted to practice his profession in 
peace. He soon acquired such a reputation for integrity 
as might have been expected of one who had adhered with 
conscientious fidelity to the obligations of the oath which he 
had taken as an officer of the British crown until discharged 
therefrom by the inevitable logic of events. 

He was a member of the Episcopal church, and sat in the 
convention which organized the American branch of the 
church. His daughter Frances in 1772 married Joseph 
Donaldson, who came from Ireland and settled in Baltimore, 
and there established the commercial firm of " Donaldson 
& Usher." There were three sons of this marriage, 
Thomas, Samuel J., and John J., who all read law with 
their grandfather and became lawyers. 

The youngest, John Johnston Donaldson, the father of the 
subject of this sketch, many years before his death relin- 
quished the practice of his profession to become President of 
the Baltimore Life Insurance Company, an office which he 
filled usefully and acceptably until his death. He was much 
respected for his good sense, integrity and worth of character. 
He married Caroline Dorsey, who was born at Belmont, the 
estate of her father. Col. Edward Dorsey, situated in that part 
of Anne Arundel Count>' which is now Howard County. She 
is remembered as a model of womanly excellence and 
loveliness. She also possessed a cultivated literary taste. 



Thomas Donaldson was born in Baltimore on the 8th of 
May, i8i5,and was the eldest son of this marriage. From his 
mother doubtless he Inherited the gentle and loving nature 
which distinguished him. She died when he was about ten 
years old, and soon afterwards he was sent to Round Hill 
School at Northampton, Massachusetts. To this school is 
due the credit of having made the first successful attempt to 
elevate and broaden the standard of academical education 
in this country. It was founded by men who afterwards 
became eminent, George Bancroft and Joseph Cogswell. 
Having pursued their studies in Universities of Germany, 
they succeeded in introducing German ideas and German 
methods into the then narrow system of American education. 
At this school Thomas Donaldson remained for five years, 
and until he entered Harvard College. He was a member 
of the class of 1834, and had passed with credit the final 
examinations, and was about to receive the degree of A. B., 
when he was deprived of it by an unexpected circumstance. 
Some of the freshmen were believed to be guilty of a breach 
of college discipline, consisting, in part at least, of breaking 
windows. It may be said without disparagement, that in 
those days there was, as a rule, not much sympathy between 
the professors in New England colleges and the students. 
Mr. Josiah Quincy was the president of Harvard, and he 
is not favorably remembered in Baltimore for a conciliatory 
disposition. The offending freshmen were handed over 
for punishment to the civil authorities. This was an unusual 
proceeding, and was regarded by their fellow-students as 
unnecessarily harsh and severe. The senior class held a 
meeting, at which Donaldson was called to the chair, and 
the course of the faculty was disapproved, probably in 



decided terms. Soon afterwards fuel was added to the flame. 
A pamphlet was put forth by the students, of which Donald- 
son was the writer. It was replied to in another pamphlet, 
written by no less a person than John Ouincy Adams, an over- 
seer of the university. This conduct of the sympathizing stu- 
dents was considered contumacious, and they were required 
either to recede from their position and make due submission 
or be expelled. Henry Burroughs, the first scholar of the 
class, Robert A. Wickliffe, of Kentucky, Thomas Donaldson, 
and others, also of the unyielding sort, but whose names 
are not remembered, preferred the latter alternative. As 
records and pamphlets are not at hand to verify this state- 
ment of facts, reliance for their accuracy must rest on a 
tradition in the family, which is believed to be too recent 
to be materially wrong. 

Donaldson's family were quite satisfied with his conduct. 
Not long afterwards it was made known that any of those 
who had been expelled could obtain a diploma by applying 
for it, but Donaldson never applied, and in 185 1 it was 
voluntarily sent to him by the college. It is pleasant to 
remember that Donaldson, while he always felt himself to 
have been harshly treated in this instance, never lost his 
respect or affection for Harvard. 

He had thus the benefit of the best instruction that could be 
furnished by the institutions then existing in the United States, 
and he faithfully availed himself of the advantages which he 
enjoyed. In attainments he was in advance of his time, and 
he was a diligent reader to the end of his life. Literature 
became to him what poetry was to Coleridge — " its own ex- 
ceeding great reward." To the best literature, and only the 
best, he constantly resorted, and in it he found repose from 



the toils of his profession, and a solace of the many cares and 
sorrows which it was his lot to bear. The great poets of the 
English language, Chaucer, Shakspeare and Milton, were his 
especial favorites. Their works were his constant companions, 
and whatever is best in them was indelibly engraved on his 
memcrj', which was remarkably accurate and tenacious. 
Shakspeare was his especial delight. It is not necessary to 
look far for this; but now when heredity serves to explain so 
much that pertains to individual character and taste, it may 
be interesting to know that both his grandfathers. Col. Dorsey 
and Mr. Donaldson, were students and admirers of Shak- 
speare, and that the latter used to relate as one of the inter- 
esting incidents of his life his participation, in the year 1769, 
in the " Shakspeare Jubilee," once famous, got up by David 
Garrick, at Stratford-upon-Avon, in honor of the great poet. 

Thomas Donaldson did not confine his reading to the Eng- 
lish language, but extended it to the French, German, Spanish 
and Italian, and he did not entirely neglect the Latin classics. 
The stores of knowledge thus acquired were at ready com- 
mand whenever he chose to use them. 

The following extract from a letter written in the winter 
of 1837, when he was confined to his home by a cold, 
and addressed to three young ladies (sisters), whom he styles 
as " good friends," will serve to show how, in early manhood, 
he employed some of his leisure time : 

" I must submit to see the sunshine and comfort myself with the 
hope that you are all enjoying it, while I shut myself up with my 
books. I have been poring over Petrarch, and am tired of the 
monotony of his fruitless love. I do not exactly sympathise with 
him. I have made an attempt to translate two or three as speci- 
mens, but found it very hard work, on account of the constant 



repetition of the same rhymes. It may be presumptuous, but I 
cannot but think that ' the numbers Petrarch flowed in ' have 
more art than matter; though to be sure there is something 
bewitchingly sweet in the music of his language. I will just copy 
off the three I have translated, from which you will see that the 
beauty of style having evaporated, there is not much left. I do 
not mean to say that these are the best, but still they seem fair 
specimens." 

One of these translations is here given : 

SONNET VII. 

To a lady who had been reproached for her /earning and her 

devotion to liieraittre. 

Passion and sloth and downy luxury 

Have from the world all virtue banished ; 

And thus our nature, from its course misled, 

Is brought by custom in captivity ; 

And every ray of Heaven's benignity 

That should adorn our life extinguished. 

Those are but wondered at who dare to tread 

About Parnassus' fair acclivity : 

"What profit in the laurel? and we see 

Philosophy goes naked to the cold ;" 

So cry the crowd whose thoughts on gain are bent ; 

But though the path companionless should be, 

I pray thee still the more, thou spirit bold, 

To follow forth thy soul's sublime intent. 

" They were not worth copying, but they were a good e.xercise 
in language, and will serve to show you how part of my sick time 
has been occupied. 

" Affectionately as a steel pen can tell you, 

" I am yours, &c.. 



The two following poems were written in 1836 : 
ON SHAKSPEARE'S SONGS. 

They seem spontaneous music, with hght wings 

Floating a blessing to the air around ; 

Sweet harmonies, not made by mortal power, 

But from the beauties of the world exhaled ; 

Made up of odors, which when spring has gone 

The earth gives up for lost ; of notes from birds 

Checked by a breeze too strong ; of smiles that fading 

Seemed pleased to die upon a fair one's lip ; 

Of chimes from childhood's laughter ringing out ; 

Of sighs that maidens waste upon the wind. 

Or breezes sadly murmur mid dead leaves ; 

Of all things bright, or sweet, or beautiful, 

Blitheful, or melancholy, that have passed. 

Or seemed to pass, from being into nothingness, 

And here have met and sweetly harmonized 

In songs that seem self-sung, as self-created. 

SONNET ON A PORTRAIT OF RAPHAEL. 

Well have they called thee Raphael, divine ! 

And were thy works to perish from the day. 

Still if this counterfeit of thee should stay, 

I would believe the name was rightly thine ! 

Upon thy brow the light of thought does shine, 

Mingling with calm benevolence its ray : 

The sweetness of thy lip is fresh as May, 

As though thy work were roses to entwine ; 

All sweet expressions love to kiss thy face 

And linger still around it ; from that eye 

Imagination radiates into space. 

Making the blank dull waste of vacancy 

Lit up with forms of beauty and of grace. 

Which scarce thy pencil's wondrous power could trace. 

After leaving Harvard in 1834 he commenced the study of 
law in Baltimore ; but his health failing, he began the active 
duties of life as a civil engineer. In this capacity he was 



13 

engaged in the construction of the Annapoh's and Elkridge 
Railroad and of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. During 
this period, and in the year 1838, he married his cousin, Mary 
Elizabeth Pickering Dorsey, of Boston, daughter of Ham- 
mond Dorsey and Elizabeth Pickering, and grand-daughter 
of Col. Timothy Pickering, of Massachusetts. It was a mar- 
riage of affection from first to last. There were eleven 
children born of the marriage, nine of whom and their mother, 
and seven grandchildren, the children of a deceased daughter, 
still survive. 

But the profession of an engineer was not congenial to his 
taste, and as soon as his health was sufficiently re-established, 
he recommenced the study of the law in Baltimore, in the office 
of Mr. William Schley, an eminent lawyer in large practice. 

He came to the bar in 1843. About this time he purchased 
some acres of land eight miles from Baltimore, situated in 
the high and picturesque tract known as " Elkridge." On 
this place, which he called " Edgewood," he built a comfort- 
able house, where he resided with his family until his death, 
and where his widow, children and grandchildren now live. 
It was the home of his affections, which he adorned with 
shade trees, flowers and fruits, carefully tended, and of which 
he never tired. It was also the seat of a kind and generous 
hospitality, not to be forgotten by those who had the privilege 
of sharing it. 

In disposition he was eminently social, and he liked to 
share with others his enjoyments and pleasures. It was his 
custom to pursue his studies and prepare his cases with his 
family and their friends around him, without ever attempting 
to check conversation or interrupt merriment. When any- 
thing happened which interested him especially he would 



14 

break off for a while from his papers and books to take an 
active part in the conversation, and would then quietly resume 
his work. 

He was fond of conversation and shone in it. His keen 
powers of observation, his stores of knowledge, his ready 
memory, his command of language, and his wit, associated 
with unfailing kindness, courtesy and cheerfulness, made 
him a charming companion and a welcome guest in all 
circles. He was especially fond of the society of intelligent 
and cultivated women, and was a general favorite with them. 
His principal amusement was reading aloud, which he did 
with great skill and feeling. He was also fond of the theatre, 
and encouraged and sometimes took part in private the- 
atricals. The effective manner in which the Merchant of 
Venice was given on Elkridge, in which he took the parts of 
Shylock and Antonio on different occasions, will be long 
remembered. 

The authors he loved best were the great English writers 
of the past rather than those of the present day. In this 
he resembled Macaulay. While he kept up with the current 
literature, it never acquired the same hold on his heart as 
that of an earlier period. 

In politics he was essentially conservative, and, while it 
lasted, belonged to the old Whig party ; but he was always 
too independent to be closely bound by party ties. In the 
years 1847 ^"^ 1848 he served as a member of the House of 
Delegates of Maryland, and filled with remarkable ability and 
unwearied industry the important position of Chairman of 
the Committee of Ways and Means. Maryland had become 
a defaulting State, and for some years had ceased to pay 
interest on her debt. It is difficult for us to realize at this 



15 

day the extent of the danger of a continued default and of 
ultimate repudiation. Other States were in a similar con- 
dition. The question had become one of national import- 
ance. In an article written by the late Judge Benjamin 
R. Curtis, published in the North American Review in 
January, 1844, and republished in the second volume of his 
Biography, page 113, he says, speaking of the debt of 
Maryland: "The debt is a just debt. They cati and they 
zi'il/ pay it. We look upon the position and future conduct 
of this State as of the greatest importance to the honor, the 
credit and the future reputation of the whole country. It 
occupies a position and is placed in circumstances which 
render its action almost decisive of the fate of this great 
question of public morals. Pennsylvania can pay almost 
without an effort. Her debt is really nothing compared 
with her resources. Indiana and Illinois are differently 
situated and at present cannot pay. Maryland occupies 
an intermediate position. She en/i pay, but it costs her a 
strong effort to do so. Her condition is such as to try her 
sense of honor. Hers is the opportunity to settle the 
question whether a popular government is too selfish to be 
just. Her people have it in their power to say to the 
world: We are capable of governing ourselves, for we can 
make sacrifices for the sake of duty and honor : no human 
power can force them upon us, but we freely make them. 
We owe allegiance neither to kings nor princes nor any 
earthly potentate; but we obey His will who created us, 
and we are governed by His laws. Freely and cheerfully 
because we know it to be our duty, will we do this thing." 
" Let the people of Maryland remember also that, if they 
make this effort, they will transmit to their children the 



i6 

inheritance of untarnished honor ; that they will lay the 
foundations of public prosperity deep and strong in the 
public faith ; that the sacrifices which they are now called 
to make cannot long be necessary, and will grow less with 
the increase of population and wealth and the rising income 
from the public works. That they may see these things 
and act as if they saw them is the earnest wish of many 
who love their country, and think that its honor and welfare 
are deeply involved in the issue." 

Maryland hesitated and lingered, and there were not 
wanting among her children recreant sons who, thinking 
that for themselves at least dishonesty was the best policy, 
strove to inculcate on the people of the State that detestable 
doctrine. But fortunately better men and better counsels 
prevailed. The people were honest at heart, and there was 
a gallant band led by the Governor, Thomas G. Pratt, who 
never rested until the honor of the State was fully restored 
and firmly established. Every citizen can now look back 
to that trying period not only without a blush of shame, 
but with a feeling of honest pride. By the sacrifices then 
made the foundations of public prosperity were laid, as 
Judge Curtis predicted, deep and strong in the public faith. 

Among the faithful Thomas Donaldson was always found. 
The journal of the House of Delegates shows with what 
courage, skill and unwearied vigilance during the whole 
session he, as Chairman of the Committee of Ways and 
Means, exposed and defeated every effort — and there were 
many open and covert — to hinder and prevent the prompt 
restoration of the public credit. In 1847 the Legislature 
fixed the first day of the following year for the resumption 
of the regular payment of interest, and it was doubtless 



17 

with a feeling of proud satisfaction that he, as chairman of 
the committee, made a report to the House of Delegates from 
which the following extract is made : 

■■ For some years after the time when the people of this State 
and their representatives here had realized the fact that a heavy 
debt was pressing upon them, the interest of which it was neces- 
sary to provide by taxation in order to preserve the honor ot the 
State, the reports of the Committees on Ways and Means were 
occupied with proposing and defending various schemes for m- 
creasing the revenue, at the time expressing the hope that the day 
would not be distant when means would be fully provided for 
complying with the obligations of the State. More recently, when 
the laws which had been passed for the purpose were brmgmg 
their tribute into the treasury, the reports of the committees 
arrayed tacts and arguments to prove that the State was in con- 
dition to declare that she would in the future pay with certainty 
and regularity the interest due to her creditors. Happily for the 
honor of Maryland, the last legislature fixed by law the first day 
of January of the present year for the resumption of the regular 
payment of interest, and provided for funding the arrears of 
interest previously due. 

•' The regular annual receipts into the treasury now gready 
exceed the amount of expenditures, including the interest both on 
the main public debt and the funded arrears ; the revenue both 
from direct and indirect sources is steadily increasing, while 
in addition to the surplus referred to, the sinking fund is in full 
operation and annually reduces by a largely increasing amount 
the mass of the public debt. * * 

" Of the disposition of the people faithfully to comply with the 
engagements of the State, and to contribute freely of their means 
to effect this purpose, no one now pretends to express a doubt. 
Upon this subject indeed the people of this State have always 
been sound ; and if in some particular localities there seemed at 
first to be a faltering, it was because, in the suddenness of the emer- 
gency, the honest men of the community did not at once recognize 
their own strength, and deceived by the clamor of a few, appre- 



hended a force in opposition which did not in fact exist. The 
cause of State faith was soon triumphant, and now entirely removed 
from the sphere of part)', unites in its support the whole com- 
munity." 

Neither "re-adjustment," nor "scaling," nor compromise, 
nor dishonesty under any other name was attempted by 
Maryland, but the debt, principal and interest, was bravely 
assumed, and as it has become due has been honestly paid. 

On the 5th of November, 1850, Mr. Donaldson, as a 
member elected from Anne Arundel County, took his seat in 
the Convention called to make a new Constitution for the 
State. The Convention commenced its sessions at Annapolis 
on that day, and continued in existence until the 13th of the 
following May. This was the first Constitutional Convention 
that had been held in Maryland since the Convention of 1776, 
which formed the original Constitution of the State. Many 
of the members of the Convention of 1850 were men of 
prominence, and not a few, then or afterwards, held important 
positions under the State or General Government. Among 
these may be mentioned William Grason, Francis Thomas 
and Thomas Holliday Hicks, Governors of the State ; Louis 
McLane, Secretary of the Treasury, and also of State in the 
Cabinet of President Jackson, and afterwards U. S. Minister 
at London ; Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, member of Con- 
gress, and afterwards U. S. Minister at Vienna ; William D. 
Merrick, Senator of the U. S. ; Thomas B. Dorsey, Chief 
Judge of the Court of Appeals ; Ezekiel F. Chambers, Judge 
of the Court of Appeals and Senator of the U. S. ; William 
H. Tuck, Judge of the Court of Appeals ; Albert Constable, 
Judge of the Sixth Judicial District ; Benjamin C. Howard, 
member of Congress and Reporter of the Supreme Court of 



19 

the U. S. ; Alexander Randall, Robert J. Brent and Charles 
J. M. Gwinn, Attorneys General of the State; and James M. 
Buchanan, U. S. Minister at Copenhagen. 

Mr. Donaldson was not placed on any important com- 
mittee, but notwithstanding this obstacle, he soon rose to 
great prominence in the Convention, and in the debates and 
proceedings from the beginning to the end took a leading 
and important part. The subjects discussed were the funda- 
mental principles of government, as well as practical questions 
of administration. None were too large for his grasp, nor 
too small for his careful consideration. 

He was in no respect a doctrinaire. While he thoroughly 
believed that republican institutions were best adapted to the 
condition and wants of the people of this country, he was 
not prepared to carry out the theory of popular government 
to its extreme results. He strenuously resisted the doctrine 
that a mere majority of the people can at its will and pleasure 
alter the Constitution of the State without regard to the forms 
and restrictions imposed by its existing Constitution, which 
he held to be a binding compact ; and with the same earnest- 
ness he opposed the kindred doctrine that representation 
should be based wholly on population. On the latter subject 
he did not advocate any rigid theory, but he considered the 
question on its historical and territorial as well as on its 
philosophical side. 

He was far from being a sentimental legislator. He denied 
that under the existing system of criminal law, injustice is 
done to accused persons, and he therefore opposed all changes 
which, in his judgment, tended to facilitate the escape of the 
guilty. 



He insisted on equal taxation. He therefore advocated 
retaining as it stands the 13th Article of the Bill of Rights, 
which declares that every person in the State " ought to con- 
tribute his proportion of public taxes according to his actual 
worth in real or personal property." He intended thereby to 
bring under taxation all stocks and bonds of other States and 
of corporations of other States, held by residents of the State. 
The true theory of taxation was then still less understood 
than it is at present, and in addition to other objections which 
may be made to the one he advocated, and which was adopted, 
Mr. Donaldson perhaps did not sufficiently appreciate the 
impossibility of obtaining a fair return of such property by 
any appeal to the conscience of the average taxpayer, and 
that therefore a less stringent provision would operate more 
equally, and for that reason more justly, and would in fact 
produce a larger revenue. 

He recognized the fact that occasions might arise, as they 
have heretofore arisen, when the aid of the State would be 
required for works of internal improvement of absolute ne- 
cessity, and he accordingly proposed that power should be 
vested in the Legislature of incurring a debt for such a pur- 
pose, provided it was authorized by a law for some single 
object distinctly specified therein by a two-thirds vote of each 
branch of the Legislature, and provided the law made provi- 
sion for the ways and means, exclusive of loans, to pay the 
interest of the debt, and discharge the principal within twenty 
years. 

In reference to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal he said, 
" that he had not made any calculation on receipts from the 
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal." " To more than seven millions 
of our money and all the interest thereon, that work was. 



21 



■■ A gulf proi'ound as that Serbonian bog 
Betwixt Damiata and Mount Casius old, 
Where armies whole have sunk." 

He moved to restrict the pardoning power of the Governor 
to reprieves and pardons after conviction. He contended that 
granting pardons before trial was liable to great abuse, and 
that justice should take its course until judgment was ren- 
dered. 

It was proposed to make the judges elective by the people. 
To this plan Mr. Donaldson was inflexibly opposed, and he 
made a long and able speech against it. He said : " I have no 
hesitation in saying that I consider the election of judges by 
the people, as proposed, with the provision for re-eligibility, 
the worst conceivable mode of appointment. I believe this 
would be the opinion of a large majority here, were they not 
running with such haste to escape from the evils of the 
present system, as to be blinded to the precipice that lies 
before them." He offered an amendment with reference to 
the Court of Appeals, proposing that three persons of integrity 
and sound legal knowledge, being above the age of thirty 
years, and residents of the judicial district from which 
they should be chosen, should be selected by joint ballot 
of the Legislature, for each judicial district, and that their 
names should be presented to the Governor, who should 
commission one of them to be a judge of that court. 

Mr. Donaldson doubtless offered this amendment with the 
knowledge that no scheme would be acceptable to the Con- 
vention which did not divide the State into districts, and 
require every judge to be selected from the district in which 
he resided ; but no plan for the constitution of the highest 
court can be satisfactory which does not make eligible to it 



the ablest lawyers of the State without regard to their place 
of residence, and it is known that this was the opinion of Mr. 
Donaldson. 

The amendment did not prevail, and not only all the judges 
of the State, but Justices of the Peace, were made elective by 
the people, with the privilege of re-electiop. The provision in 
regard to Justices of the Peace was soon found to be intoler- 
able, and was changed. 

In March, 1849, Mr. Donaldson delivered an address 
before the Maryland Historical Society, of which he was one 
of the founders, on " American Colonial History." The 
opening is a worthy tribute to the founders of Maryland. 

"Two hundred and fifteen years ago, ' the Ark ' and ' the Dove,' 
after a voyage of long duration, in which they were beset with 
many dangers, and but narrowly escaped disaster, at last entered 
together the waters of the broad and peaceful Chesapeake, and 
steering their course for the Potomac, sailed up between the beau- 
tiful groves that crowned its shores. On the 25th of March, 1634, 
being the feast of the Annunciation, with great pomp and solemn 
and religious rites, Leonard Calvert and the two hundred choice 
men who had come with him to build their homes in this land of 
promise, formally took possession of the territories of Maryland, 
and consecrated the soil to the cause of Christianity and to the 
principles of religious liberty. They were peaceful, unambitious 
men, not led away from their former homes by the love of gold, 
nor by the desire of power, but anxious to find a retreat where 
they might quietly reap the fruits of their industry, beyond the 
reach of the storms of persecution. More than this, they were 
men ready to act upon principles of the most enlarged charity ; 
since they offered to all denominations of Christians the freedom 
they claimed for themselves. In this respect they were far in 
advance of their age ; and on their account our State well deserves 
the name so happily bestowed upon her, of The Land of the 
Sanctuary." 



23 

The whole discourse shows Mr. Donaldson to have beea 
imbued with the true historic spirit, and to have had a just 
comprehension of the continuity of history, which Hes at the 
basis of modern scientific investigation. 

From the year 185 1 to 1861, Mr. Donaldson was actively 
engaged in the duties of his profession, and took no part in 
politics. In 1854 he was chosen director, and also one of 
the counsel of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore 
Railroad Company, and he held both of these offices as long 
as he lived. 

He was elected a member of the Board of Trustees of the 
Peabody Institute of the city of Baltimore some time after its 
establishment, and took an active interest in its affairs until 
his death. 

In order to explain the course of Mr. Donaldson during 
the civil war, some account is necessary of the condition of 
affairs existing in Maryland immediately after the secession 
of the Confederate States. Down to that period Maryland 
had always been, in the best sense of the expression, a loyal 
State. From the early history of the country, opposition, 
more or less formidable, to the rightful authority of the 
General Government, had manifested itself from time to time 
in different States. In the war of 18 12, with Great Britain, a 
movement toward secession had begun in New England, cul- 
minating in the Hartford Convention. In 1832, South Caro- 
lina passed an ordinance of nullification. In all the free 
States, acts of Congress relating to slaves, passed in confor- 
mity with the Constitution, were defied and set at naught. 
But Maryland had always continued steadfast in support of 
the Union as established by the Constitution. In every war 
her soldiers were found on the field of battle, however distant 



24 

it might be. Our national ode, which was written during the 
bombardment of Baltimore, by Francis S. Key, while he was 
a prisoner on board a British man-of-war engaged in the 
fight, was the true expression by a Marylander of the patriotic 
feeling that thrilled the hearts of her people. But with the 
civil war the day of her trial came. 

Mason and Dixon's line is now remembered only as an 
ancient name, fast becoming obsolete, of a boundary between 
two States ; but at the outbreak of the civil war, and long 
before, it had acquired an ominous significance as being the 
line of demarcation between two great and unfriendly sections 
of the country ; unequal in size and strength, but equal in 
pride, determination, and self-reliance. The differences 
between the sections were not of slight importance, nor of 
recent origin, but had existed from the foundation of the 
(jovernment, growing, as they did, out of the incompatible 
institutions of freedom and slavery, and out of conflicting 
opinions in reference to the respective rights of the States and 
of the General Government. These differences were intensi- 
fied on both sides by the feeling of wrongs suffered, and by 
mutual criminations and recriminations. The Supreme Court 
had decided some of the questions in dispute, but with little 
effect, except to bring the Court itself into disrepute with the 
losing side. In the course of years of controversy, com- 
promises had been made, had been tried, and had signally 
failed ; compromise was again proposed, but was soon found 
to be impossible, and nothing remained but an appeal to arms. 
To this it had come at last. 

Maryland, lying directly south of Mason and Dixon's line, 
occupied, both from her geographical position and the con- 
flicting sentiments and opinions of her people, a peculiarly 



25 



trying and dangerous position. The chief highway between 
North and South ran through the State, and the National 
Capital lay within it. Her first step was watched with intense 
interest by the whole country, for important consequences 
were to follow. If she should take part with the South, her 
own territory would be at once invaded by the North, and 
would become the first battle-ground of the war ; if with the 
North, she would be compelled to unite in the invasion of the 
territory of Southern States with whom she had been 
always united by close ties of interest, affection and common 
institutions. What that step would be depended on her own 
resolve. 

She was far from being wholly a Southern State. Slavery 
had indeed been established from the commencement of the 
colony, but it had almost disappeared from the city of Balti- 
more and the northern portions of the State. By many of 
her own people it had long been felt to be a heavy burthen, as 
well as a grievous wrong. Efforts at emancipation had been 
made, and would have been continued if they had not become 
hopeless by reason of the antagonism on that subject which had 
sprung up between the North and the South ; but the feeling 
that prompted them had not been eradicated. In States like 
Massachusetts and South Carolina, every citizen easily found 
his place. He was carried onward by the momentum of the 
community in which he lived ; but in Maryland, the part to 
be taken became a personal question, appealing to the interest, 
the hopes and fears, the sense of honor and duty, as well as 
to the sympathies of each individual man. 

Soon after the 19th of April, 1861, the date of the mem- 
orable outbreak in Baltimore, military possession began 
to be taken of the State, and soon became complete. The 



26 

Legislature met in special session at Frederick, on the 26th of 
April, 1 86 1, and soon afterwards passed a series of resolutions, 
declaring the desire of the State for the peaceful and imme- 
diate recognition of the independence of the Confederate 
States by the Federal Government, protesting against the war 
as unconstitutional, and announcing her resolute determina- 
tion to have no part nor lot, directly or indirectly, in its pro- 
secution. But in such a strife, neutrality of a State, and 
especially of the State of Maryland, was impossible, and even 
the neutrality of an individual was little short of impossible. 

The Police Commissioners of the city, and next the Mayor 
of the city of Baltimore (the author of this sketch), the lead- 
ing members of the Legislature, and prominent citizens, were 
arrested and confined in Northern prisons. Mr. Henry May, 
a member of Congress, was arrested, but soon released, and 
arrests and imprisonments on political grounds continued 
during the war. 

It has been charged that secession was contemplated by the 
Legislature, but the charge is unfounded in fact. It is not 
doubted, however, that a majority of the people sympathized 
with the South, and approved of the stand taken by the Leg- 
islature in opposition to the war. It is estimated by Gen. 
Phelps, of the Union army, in the oration which he recently 
delivered before the Maryland Historical Society, on the 
one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of 
Baltimore, that over fifty thousand white men of the State 
fought on the Union side, and perhaps half that number 
on the Confederate side ; and he adds, " with equal facilities 
and encouragements, doubtless this disparity' would have 
been greatly lessened, and with the then existing military 
and political situation reversed, the result would have been 
a preponderance on the other side." 



27 

Toleration of differences of opinion is a virtue of slow 
growth, and was not much practised by either party in Mary- 
land during the war. The domestic strife was bitter and cut 
through society, often separating in feeling, if not in fact, 
parents and children, brothers and sisters, and sometimes even 
husbands and wives. Since then, it has been generously 
forgiven and forgotten, the dividing line has vanished, and 
none are now found to regret that the cause of the Union 
prevailed. 

Mr. Donaldson's position was both difficult and painful, 
but his course was firm and consistent from the beginning. 
Like many others, while he had always been opposed to 
slavery, he felt bound to stand by the compromises of the 
Constitution. He was an avowed Union man, and insisted on 
the right and duty of the General Government to maintain its 
authority in every part of the country by force of arms ; but 
he deprecated and opposed all violations of the rights of 
persons and property which were not required by the impera- 
tive necessities of the war. He was not in sympathy with 
violent men or violent measures, yet he was often held in 
some degree responsible for both. He did not regard those 
who differed from him in opinion as personal enemies. 
Division, although not alienation of feeling, had reached his 
own family. His brother, Admiral Donaldson, was then a 
Captain in the United States Navy. His son-in-law, Com- 
modore Parker, recently deceased, was a Commander in the 
same service ; while other members of his family sym- 
pathized with the .South. The views of Thomas Donald- 
son were too moderate to enable him to exercise with those 
in authority the influence to which he was entitled, by his 
learning and ability and the great respect which was enter- 



28 

tained for his character; but he pursued unmoved his honor- 
able and manly course, always ready, without compensation, 
to lend his aid to those who were suffering unjustly under 
political arrests, and exercising a gentle forbearance towards 
old friends, even when they had grown cold to him. 

In November, 1861, he was elected a member from Howard 
County, to the House of Delegates of Maryland, and on the 
4th of December he took his seat at the extra session of the 
General Assembly called by Governor Hicks. On the 17th 
of the month he submitted a series of joint resolutions, which 
are here quoted in substance, because they express distinctly 
in his own language his opinions on the political questions of 
the day. They repudiate the right of any State to secede from 
the Union ; they assert that the State of Maryland would 
cheerfully contribute her proportion of men and means to 
sustain the nation in its struggle for existence, so long as the 
war is conducted in accordance with the principles of the 
Constitution, and so long as the purpose of those in power is 
the maintenance of the Union, with the rights guaranteed to 
the States unimpaired ; they declare that the loyalty of the 
people of Maryland to the General Government established 
by the Constitution is untouched by any shade of servility, 
and that they must ever regard with extreme jealousy all 
attempts, from whatever quarter, to make the present war for 
the restoration of the Union, the means of interfering with the 
domestic institutions of the States ; and they solemnly protest 
against all schemes, the object or tendency of which is to 
excite insurrection among the. slaves, declaring the same 
illegal, and calculated, if put in practice, to produce results 
too horrible to contemplate. They declare that the Legisla- 
ture is gratified to know that the true principles on which the 



war should be conducted had been expressed in the most 
emphatic language by both houses of the present Congress in 
their extra session of July preceding ; that they had been 
declared by the President in his latest message ; and that 
they had been conspicuously illustrated in the proclamation 
of Major-Gen. Dix to the people of the Eastern Shore of 
Virginia ; and they further declare that although in the imme- 
diate presence of armies, when war or insurrection exists, it 
cannot be expected that the civil power should at all times 
maintain its supremacy, and that there may be cases of ex- 
treme necessity where the safety and preservation of the Gov- 
ernment would excuse a resort to extraordinary measures ; yet 
the dangers of a departure from the forms of law, which are 
the protection of individual rights, should never be forgotten, 
and all irregular proceedings should be abandoned so soon as 
it is clear that the extreme necessit}'^ which gave rise to them 
has passed away. 

The resolutions were adopted by the House of Delegates, 
but were very materially altered in the Senate. They are 
inserted here, because they clearly show the opinions by 
which the course of Mr. Donaldson was guided. 

The last time when Mr. Donaldson was a candidate for 
public office was in 1864, when a Convention was called to 
form a new Constitution for the State. He was nominated as 
one of the candidates from Howard County of the " Conserva- 
tive Union " party, in opposition to the Radical party. The 
ticket of the "Conservatives" was defeated — Mr. Donald- 
son by only nine votes — but as there were soldiers at 
the polls taking active part against it, the result was not 
surprising. 



30 

Mr. Donaldson was slightly above the middle height, 
slender and active. Without being regularly handsome, his 
appearance was striking and very attractive. A high and 
broad forehead, light blue eyes, kindling as he spoke, a well 
cut nose and chin, and mouth ready to smile, yet marked by 
strong lines, were the prominent features of a face which 
indicated to every observer refinement, gentleness, and force 
of character. 

Ordinarily, Mr. Donaldson took no part in politics, 
beyond the duty of voting, which he never failed to perform. 
The occasions on which he entered into public life were rare, 
and occurred only when great public interests were involved. 
He never engaged in speculations or in unprofessional busi- 
ness of any kind. The main work of his life was done in the 
practice of his profession, which he both loved and honored, 
and which he pursued with high aims and unwearied dili- 
gence. 

His charges were always moderate, and the poor as well as 
the rich had the benefit of his best services. " It is a strange 
trade, I have often thought," says Carlyle in his Reminis- 
cences, "that of advocacy. Your intellect, your highest 
heavenly gift, hung in the shop-window like a loaded pistol 
for sale." But Donaldson did not regard advocacy as a 
trade, nor was his intellect a loaded pistol hung up for sale. 
He was not a mercenary, equally ready to fight in any 
cause for hire. He scorned every attempt to gain practice by 
attracting public attention or by unworthy arts ; and if, in his 
early and waiting years, his love of literature had not seemed 
to diminish his devotion to the law, his great merit might 
perhaps have been sooner recognized, and the labors of his 
life followed by more substantial reward than he ever 



31 

attained. But what he thus lost in money he gained as a 
scholar, an advocate and a man. 

His career as a lawyer was, on his death, briefly sketched 
in the Evening Bnlletin and Baltimore American, by S. Teackle 
Wallis and Geo. Wm. Brown, his early friends and profes- 
sional brethren, and portions of these notices are here 
reproduced. 

" He began," wrote Mr. Wallis, "the active duties of life 
as a civil engineer, and did not study for the Bar until some 
years after his arrival at manhood. It was thus that he did 
not attain, until a comparatively late period, the position in 
the profession of his ultimate choice, to which his age and 
abilities would otherwise have assigned him. Indeed, 
although known from the beginning of his later career, as a 
lawyer of fine attainments and uncommon force, he did not 
develop, until of recent years, the singular powers as an 
advocate for which he was so widely distinguished. The 
best characteristics of Mr. Donaldson were those which 
sprang directly from the excellence of his individual and per- 
sonal qualities. His sense of duty was so strong as to ensure 
the faithful and punctual fulfilment of every professional obli- 
gation, no matter how much it might entail of patient industry 
and labor. His mind was conspicuously just and fair, and 
his convictions of right were never for a moment clouded by 
the interests of others or his own. Nothing could exceed the 
amiable frankness of his temper, or the cordial kindness of 
his intercourse and manners. His integrity was such that no 
one could be sufficiently his enemy to doubt it, and his intel- 
lect was so vigorous, direct and honest that it could with 
difficulty be diverted or misled." 



32 

" He came to the Bar," wrote Judge Brown, " in 1843, and 
from that time until his death he steadily and gradually rose 
in public estimation, until he reached the front rank of the 
profession in this State. . In Howard County, where he 
resided, and where he was universally beloved and honored, 
he was engaged in every important case, and was confessedly 
the leader of the Bar. His engagements there somewhat 
interfered with his practice in Baltimore, but he was year by 
year advancing in influence, and increasing his practice in the 
courts of the city and in the Court of Appeals. He died in 
the maturuy of his powers, and with a still more distin- 
guished career lying immediately before him. In him were 
united all the qualifications necessary to make a great lawyer : 
sound judgment, a retentive memory, quickness of apprehen- 
sion, unflinching courage, skill in the examination of wit- 
nesses, an industry which mastered the minutest details of a 
case, a thorough command of language, both in speaking and 
writing, and persuasive eloquence. And as a wise adviser of 
those who needed counsel, as a peace-maker, and not a pro- 
moter of litigation, and as a faithful administrator of impor- 
tant trusts, his place will not be easily supplied." 

In May, 1875, Mr. Donaldson delivered an address in 
Washington, before the graduating law class of the Colum- 
bian University, and in May, 1876, he delivered a similar 
ad'dress in Baltimore, before the graduating class of the 
University of Maryland. Both are so excellent that the 
temptation is great to quote copiously from them ; and the 
more so, because in the high ideal which he held up to the 
young men, he undoubtedly, although perhaps unconsciously, 
described that which had been the inspiring influence of his 
own life. The following quotations from the latter address 



33 

will suffice to give some idea of the spirit and the value of 
both. 

" From the earliest records, since the class of advocates has 
existed, they have been noted for the fearless courage with which 
they have resisted the oppression of rulers, and withstood the 
violence of an excited populace; often performing their duty, 
whether as defenders of parties accused, or as asserters of the civil 
rights of their clients, at extreme personal peril. It is a known 
point of honor with the profession, in the face of the reproach of 
well-meaning moralists, who imperfectly understand the subject, 
that no man should be without counsel when brought before any 
tribunal to answer an accusation : and it has always been its pride 
to maintain the civil rights of clients, undeterred by power, unawed 
by frowning courts, and in defiance of popular prejudice. And 
this spirit of independence has not been confined to the practice 
in courts of justice, but has also been conspicuously displayed in 
national councils. It would be no exaggeration to say, that all 
great constitutional measures in England, by which the liberties of 
that country were secured, and from which we have derived an 
equal benefit, are due to the exertions of her great lawyers. . . 
You will call to mind, also, that to the great lawyers of the Amer- 
ican colonies, more than to any other class of men, we owe the 
resolute and steady resistance to the oppression of the mother 
country, which ended in securing our independence a hundred 
years ago ; and from their wisdom mainly came that constitution 
of which we are so justly proud. 

" The tyrannical judge, so formidable in past centuries, and to 
resist whose arbitrary will became the duty of some of the noblest 
members of our profession, is a character scarcely known amongst 
us, e.xcept by tradition ; and those who preside in our courts, in 
this country at least, are for the most part only too indulgent to 
both litigants and counsel. 

" After all, however, even in the best conmiunities, with well 
regulated laws to protect all rights, administered by the worthiest 
judges and the most sensible and upright juries, there will never 
be wanting opportunities for counsel to exercise their courage ; I 
will not say to display their courage, because in most cases it will 



34 

not be known to the world that the question of courage has arisen. 
Thus, there is no higher duty of the profession, than to tell one 
who proposes to be a client, that he is in the wrong, that he has no 
right to prosecute, or defend, the cause in which he wishes to 
engage your services. Yet it requires a great deal of courage to 
perform this duty ; for you cannot in such a case expect that your 
action will be appreciated by one who is probably so infatuated in 
his selfish prepossessions, that he would be very likely to attribute 
your advice to a sinister motive. It is at any time hard to resist 
the temptation of a handsome fee, and harder still to risk offending 
an established client ; but it is particularly hard to do either in the 
earlier years of professional life, when not only would the compen- 
sation be most welcome, but opportunities to appear in courts and 
to extend one's practice are most eagerly coveted. But, if you 
would maintain your self-respect, and the true dignity of your pro- 
fession, you must sometimes make these sacrifices. Indeed, there 
is no worthy member of the bar who does not prevent more liti- 
gation than he encourages. 

" Further still, there are times, even in the course of business 
already begun,— even in the very midst of a trial, perhaps, — when 
you may feel obliged to decline proceeding. You can have no 
more trying duty than this, and it requires a courage that few- 
possess. Fortunately, these occasions cannot be frequent ; because 
in few cases is the right or the wrong entirely on one side, and in 
almost all, your services may avail to protect your client from 
injustice, even if his claims, or his defences, cannot be fully sus- 
tained. But, certainly, there are such exceptional cases as I have 
referred to ; and it is, perhaps, because we all come short of the 
highest courage that these cases are so rarely recognized in our 
practice. 

" However it may at first seem to throw obstacles in the way of 
your early and rapid success, cultivate above all things a spirit of 
honorable independence in regard to your clients and their busi- 
ness. Let no clients, whether individuals or corporations, however 
rich or powerful, and however prodigal of fees, ever consider you 
as instruments belonging to them, and bound to perform whatever 
services they may require of you. Always reserve your own 



35 

judgment, and the liberty to act according to your own views of 
right, or to retire from the employment. 

" The same courage is needed, and should be shown, in your 
arguments of points of law before the courts, dealing fairly with 
them always and suppressing nothing ; and whilst earnestly sup- 
porting the cause that you advocate, never forget that the right 
determination of the law is the great object of all such discussions, 
and one far more important than your individual triumph, or even 
than the interest of your client. In truth, a member of the legal 
profession is a servant of the public in its largest sense, and has no 
right to forget his responsibility in that character, in his eagerness 
to promote the cause of his client ; nor may he for a special pur- 
pose advocate principles which he knows to be false, or justify acts 
which he considers indefensible. Any other view of the profession 
is sordid and low." 

The last public address of Mr. Donaldson was made on 
the 15th of January, 1875, at the Masonic Temple, in the city 
of Baltimore, before a meeting of the citizens called to express 
their sentiments in reference to the arrest of members of the 
Legislature of Louisiana by a detachment of the army of the 
United States, acting under the orders of the General in com- 
mand in the city of New Orleans. The meeting was large 
and highly respectable, and was presided over by the late 
Reverdy Johnson. Among the able speakers on that occa- 
sion, Mr. Donaldson greatly distinguished himself by the 
eloquence and force of his address, of which a brief and 
inadequate summary is given, taken from the Baltimore 
American of the following day : 

" Mr. Donaldson began by saying, that it was scarce ten days 
since a telegraphic dispatch first announced to us that occurrence, 
to protest against which this meeting was called, and others in 
every part of this land from which the voice of the people is going 
up. The facts were so well-known that a speaker had to refer to 



36 

what is familiar to all : but it was encouraging to know that from 
men oi all parties there were going up protests and cries of alarm 
against the outrages perpetrated on the 4th of this month upon 
the Legislature of Louisiana. It had aroused the whole of the 
country. Mr. Donaldson detailed the expulsion of the five 
members of the Louisiana Legislature by the military, and severely 
animadverted on the mildness of the President's language and the 
concurrence of the Cabinet. He concluded by showing that the 
infringement of the rights of one State endangered the rights of 
every other. He showed that in every one of our States there 
was a Legislature composed of two houses, in which partisan 
contests were often very close, as they sometimes were in Congress. 
There was often considerable delay before organization could be 
effected, and if in such cases a President, with perhaps strong par- 
tisan feelings, was allowed to interfere, the most disastrous results 
would certainly follow." 

Resolutions strongly condemning the outrage were unani- 
mously adopted. 

It was the habit of Mr. Donaldson to spend a part of the 
vacation season in the summer, at the North. His favorite 
places were Sharon Springs and Mount Desert, and for a 
number of years before his death he regularly visited the 
latter. The beautiful scenery, the bracing air, the freedom 
from the exactions of fashionable life, and, not least, the culti- 
vated society which he there found, rendered it especially 
attractive to him. 

In 1867, with his wife, he visited Europe, travelling through 
England, France, Switzerland, a part of Germany, and Italy, 
as far as Rome. His aesthetic tastes and high cultivation ren- 
dered the journey one of peculiar gratification to him. He 
had no knowledge of music nor love for it, but he delighted 
in the beauty of nature and of art. He had a decided talent 
for drawing and sometimes indulged it, and he knew much of 



37 

the lives and achievements of the great artists, and he there- 
fore felt in the presence of their works, not like a stranger, 
but as an old and familiar friend. 

Mr. Donaldson was a religious man, but he seldom con- 
versed on points of doctrine, even with his most intimate 
friends. He had been brought up in the Episcopal Church, 
and with his family he always attended its services, which he 
admired and loved. 

In the winter of 1876-7, his health began seriously to fail, 
and the malady proved to be Bright's disease. He was 
advised by his brother and physician. Dr. Frank Donaldson, 
to try the effect of a warmer and drier climate, and accord- 
ingly he went in the following spring, accompanied by his 
wife, to Aiken, South Carolina, and afterwards to Charleston. 

The following letter, written just before his departure, to a 
friend, may serve to give an idea of his epistolary style : 

Edgewoou, March 28, 1877. 

Dear ; Some weeks ago I told you I would send you 

i an English edition of the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, which 
I then supposed I had in my library. But when I came to look 
for it, it was no longer to be found. Some thorough appreciator 
of the Imperial Saint had doubtless borrowed it, and could not 
part with it again— using the book, perhaps, for daily devotional 
exercises, after the latest and most approved Boston style. 

Despairing of recovering it, I send you a substitute, glad to 
associate you in my mind with one of my favorite heroes, and glad 
to be sometimes recalled to your mind by such an association. 

Frank says I am much better, and says that I must spend a 
month at the South to recover my strength. Therefore, Mary 
(my wife) and I leave home early next week, for the interior of 
Georgia or South Carolina. Not feeling the necessity of this 
move myself, and this being my busy season, I find great difficulty 



38 

in reconciling myself to such a prescription, but all my family say 
I must obey. Therefore, I shall try to make the best of it. 

I hope to be able to spend a day in the city before leaving, in 
which case I shall see you. With love to your household, I am 
as ever 

Your friend, 

Th. Donaldson. 



The change brought temporary relief. His spirits, which 
were naturally buoyant, revived. A friend who met him there 
spoke of his presence as bringing with it cheerfulness and 
brightness to the place, and of the gloom which followed his 
departure. It was the first occasion on which he had visited 
the South since the war, and he wrote home gratifying 
accounts of the improving prosperity of that region, and of 
the friendly disposition of the people towards the Union. He 
returned home improved, but not essentially benefited. He 
was not long in the dark about his own condition, although 
he felt it to be his duty to take every prescribed means to 
regain his health. He set to work laboriously and carefully 
to put his affairs in order, and particularly those in which he 
was concerned as trustee, so that there might be no misunder- 
standing or confusion after his death ; but he was not able to 
resume his general professional practice. 

On the 19th of July, he, with his wife and some others of 
his family, left home for a journey to Niagara. At the end of 
the first day he reached Delaware Water Gap, where the party 
intended to stop for a few days. He was there, on the follow- 
ing morning, struck with paralysis, which affected his speech, 
but not his intellect. He rallied sufficiently during the next 
three weeks to be removed to his home, which he reached in 
such a feeble condition that he hardly afterwards left his bed. 



39 

His mind continued clear until within a short time of his 
death. 

After his return home he gave up all solicitude about his 
worldly affairs, and calmly awaited his approaching end. On 
the 3d of September he dictated the following: " I have just 
receiv'ed your letter. My remaining now is so utterly uncer- 
tain that I would not have you either slacken or hasten your 
coming home. I had no idea of being now living. I still 
hope to see you and yours, but I do not want to live. You 
are one of my dearest friends in the world, and all your 
family are mine too. God bless you all." His love went out 
more strongly than ever towards his family and friends. As 
long as strength permitted he conversed cheerfully, taking an 
interest in the affairs of others, and giving kind advice where 
it was sought or was needed, and almost to the last he liked 
to listen to the poetry of Shakspeare and the psalms of 
David. He did not dwell on the sorrows of life, but 
was grateful for the happiness he had enjoyed. Nor did he 
indulge in apprehensions even for the welfare of wife and 
children, about to be left behind, whom he loved so 
tenderly, and for whom he had not been able to make ample 
provision ; but he encouraged them not to fear, and to believe 
that all would be well. He reproached himself, as if it were 
presumptuous, that he had no fear of death. He died on the 
4th of October, 1877. 

Such was the fitting end of one who had preserved his 
integrity and manhood under every trial and temptation, who 
had been liberal, charitable, unselfish, unmoved by the greed 
of gain ; not without ambition, but who had found his happi- 
ness in the symmetrical development of his own faculties, in 
the performance of the practical duties of life, in the glories 



40 

of literature and art, in the beauty of nature, and above all 
in the exercise of the social and kindly affections. He died 
as he lived, in the Christian faith, with a firm trust in the 
mercy of God, and with a reverent submission to the dispen- 
sations of His providence. 

At the annual meeting of the Philadelphia, Wilmington 
and Baltimore Railroad Company, held at Wilmington, on the 
14th of January, 1878, the character and valuable services of 
Mr. Donaldson were cordially recognized by the Board, in 
resolutions which described him as a wise adviser of the 
Board, a ripe and accomplished scholar, a distinguished 
lawyer, a gentleman in the best acceptation of that term, and 
a genial companion and true friend. 

And at the annual meeting of the Board of Directors of the 
Peabody Institute of Baltimore, held on the 1 2th of Februarj^ 
1878, the following notice of his death was placed on record : 

" Mr. Donaldson was for a long time a member of the 
Board ; and while the eminent position which his learning and 
talents had won for him at the Bar, left him little leisure for 
other pursuits, he still found sufficient time to take a deep 
and active interest in the affairs of the Institute. 

"At the meetings of the Board, his kindliness and courtesy 
endeared him to his colleagues, and his excellent judgment 
gave them confidence in the measures which he advocated. 
His loss cannot be easily supplied." 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



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